Caught in the Heart
by Mercy-Jane
Summary: Dusty never expected her world to be flipped on edge but after meeting a team of Daybreakers that is exactly what happens. They meet her while tracking a rogue werewolf. The same werewolf that had attacked Dusty. But instead of standing at the side lines she is going to take charge and fight back. Along the way she may even find her soulmate...assuming she doesn't shoot him first
1. Attacks and Archery

Thwang!

The string on my bow made a satisfying snap as I released my arrow. It glided through the air and easily imbedded itself into the target. It was inches away from a bull's-eye.

_So close! _I thought.

I reached back to grab another arrow out of my quiver but there wasn't one. I looked over my shoulder in surprise and realized I had fired all my arrows. Apparently I had lost track of time….again. I pulled out my phone and checked the time: 8:30 pm. That would mean the archery range would have already closed half an hour ago. Not that it mattered to me. I spent so much time here that I had become friends with the manager. She let me stay late as long I promised to lock the place up.

So I went and collected my arrows and placed all my things in a bag monogrammed with my name, Dustelle, on it. My mom was the one who had it monogrammed. If I had done it myself, I would have just put Dusty. I walked out to the parking lot and systematically shut of all the lights on my way. I felt a prickle on the back of my neck and a sense of unease swept over me. Normally I was fine being alone, but tonight something felt different. A month ago I would have dismissed my feelings as paranoia but after that night….

_Don't think about it Dusty!_

I started to scan the parking lot for any other sign of life. There wasn't anything that I could see but eyes aren't the most truthful of senses. I pulled out an arrow from my bag and notched it on my bow. I had never shot anything alive before but if it was between me and them, I was going to pick myself. I heard a rustle towards the back of the parking lot and I swung my bow around to face it. It was an animal, but I didn't know anything beyond that, since the lot was too dark to see much of anything. I heard some snarling and another animal jumped out of the trees. This one was chased the other one in my direction and as it got closer I could see what it was.

_No it can't be! _I shook my head to rid it of the memories of that night, the night I was attacked. _This can't be happening._

But there it was. The animal that had gone after me all those weeks ago was here and it was fighting with the second animal. It looked like some sort of cat. There was snarling and hissing and before I had even realized it, I pulled the bowstring to my ear and fired. It clipped the first animal which yelped and jumped backward, giving the cat thing an opening. I shot again and though I missed, the first animal took off into the tree line. The second one, I think it might have been a leopard, turned to look at me. It had piercing blue eyes that seemed to stare straight through me. Then it started walking towards me.

_I am so screwed, _I thought.

I sprinted to my Jeep, hell bent on getting away. Unfortunately the cat was faster. It over took me in a few bounds but instead of going for me it leapt onto the top of my Jeep. Then it proceeded to plop its butt down and yawn. That did it! The thing scared the living crap out of me then decides to sit on my car just for the heck of it?

"Scram!" I told it, losing all the fear I had before. The cat, which I could now see looked like some sort of snow leopard, only blinked.

"I mean it Furball! I scared away whatever that thing was, so you should be grateful! You definitely should not sit on top of my Jeep!" I yelled at it exasperated.

Were it any other time I might have marveled that a wild animal was sitting on my Jeep but right now I really wanted to go home. This stupid cat had other ideas though. It padded off the top of my car then onto the hood then onto the ground. Then he walked up to me.

I stared at the Snow leopard and informed him, "Y'know snow leopards are supposed to be scared of humans."

The cat looked at me and could swear it was grinning at me. I was about to offer it my hand to sniff but I heard voices behind me.

"Roy! Oh goddess I'm glad you're okay!" A boy with dirty blond hair yelled. He and a curly haired girl next to him ran towards me.

_Are they talking to the leopard?_ I wondered.

I turned to look at the cat behind me, except there was no cat behind me. In the cat's place there was a tanned boy about my age. He had wavy black hair with gray tips.

"Holy Shit!" I screamed.

The boy ignored me and looked over at the two people that been yelling earlier.

"Are you two alright?" He asked.

"Just some bumps and bruises, Roy. It was a trap- Hey who's this?" The red headed girl asked, finally noticing me.

"I don't know anything about her except she's good with a bow," the dark haired boy answered.

"Hey! Hold it! What is going on here? And where did that cat go?" I demanded.

The girl raised an eyebrow and the spikey blond shot a look at Roy.

"Haden I need you to make her forget," Roy ordered the blond. He said it so nonchalantly. Like it was no big deal he was asking someone to mess with my mind.

"No!" I drew my bow, seething with anger, "You aren't going to make me do anything!"

I switched between aiming my bow at Roy and at Haden because I wasn't sure who was more of a threat. Haden held up his hands in front of him in surrender and turned to the dark haired boy.

"What do you want me to do boss?"

The girl interceded, "Look I don't want anyone to get hurt here but if we tell you what is going on you might not like the answer,"

I lowered my bow slightly, "I don't care. I still want to know."

The girl looked at Roy for his input. I also stared at him trying to mentally persuade him to listen.

"Fine!" He growled, "But we can't do it here, it's not safe."

"We can go to my place," I offered then paused for a second. " I don't suppose you guys have a car?"

They all shook their heads.

I sighed, "Alright you can ride with me."

We all loaded up in the car. Of course I was driving. Roy ended up next to me and Haden and the girl were in the back seat.

"So..." the girl asked, "I don't believe we know your name."

"I'm Dusty. How about you?"

"I'm Tamara, and I believe you already know Haden and Roy," Tamara gestured and the blond and the dark haired one next to me.

"Dusty's an unusual name," Haden commented

"That's couse it's short for-"

"Deer!" Roy yelled.

I slammed on the brakes and stopped fifteen feet short of the deer.

"Damnit Charlie!"

Roy looked at me like I was crazy.

"It's the deer. His name is Charlie," I explained.

"Do you often name deer?" Tamara asked after she recovered from being thrown into the back of my seat.

"No," I replied, "I only named him after he rammed into my car…twice."

I stuck my head out of the window, "Move it or lose it Charlie!"

The deer finally jerked out of its dazed stupor and trotted across the road. I sighed and continued home. This was gonna be a long night.


	2. Introductions

_So before I begin I would like to give a big thanks to __Winterowl312 for being my first reviewer!_

After the Charlie incident we made it to my house unscathed. I entered the house and kicked off my shoes.

"Do you live alone?" Haden asked, "I noticed there isn't a car in the drive way."

"Nope. I live with my mom. She's just on a business trip that will last for another week and a half. Her job makes it so she has to travel a lot."

I walked into the Kitchen and petted Rossco, my cat, as he passed me. However once he saw Roy he arched his back, hissed, and bolted into the back of the house.

"Sorry about that. He isn't used to newcomers," I apologized to Roy.

"I'm used to it. Lots of animals react that way around me," Roy stated.

I shrugged and then realized that I hadn't eaten anything in seven hours. So I started getting out the supplies to make myself a roast beef sandwich.

"By the way, you guys are welcome to grab something to eat. I'm making myself a sandwich, but I have some hot pockets, left over chicken, pasta-"

"It's fine," Roy cut in.

I narrowed my eyes at him. I was really getting sick of his attitude.

"Actually I wouldn't mind some of what you are having," Tamara said gesturing to my sandwich.

"Alright one roast beef sandwich coming up! You want anything Haden?"

He shook his head. For the first time I noticed that he had very unusual eyes. They were a dark green but when they caught the light they looked silver. Then I realized I was staring and I quickly went to go make Tamara's sandwich.

"So are you guys going to explain to me what's going on?" I pressed.

"Uh if we are going to do this you might want to sit down," Haden advised.

I brought both Tamara's and my sandwich to the table and sat down.

I looked up at them expectantly, "Alright I'm sitting."

All three of them looked uneasy. Well except for Tamara. She was munching away at her sandwich.

I sighed, "Look if I don't take the news well you can just mind wipe me of whatever you were threatening to do before."

"She has a point," Tamara commented.

"Alright then. You can to explain it to her," Roy said.

"Fine by me," The red headed girl slid off the counter and faced me, "Do you ever get the feeling that sometimes there is more to the world than you know?"

My mind went back to the night of the attack. Just thinking about it caused me to shiver. I nodded.

"Well there is. A lot more. There is this thing called the Night World."

"Isn't that a video game?" I wondered.

Tamara rolled her eyes, "No it's not a video game and if you interrupt again I won't tell you the rest."

I shut up and listened.

"The Night World exists right along with the human world except the Night world is made up of things that well…aren't human. Roy, Haden, and I are from the Night World," She paused and scrutinized me.

"So assuming you are telling the truth, that would make you three not human?"

She nodded.

"Are you just yanking my chain so I'll leave you alone?" I asked suspiciously.

Tamara and Roy both exchanged looks with Haden. Haden sighed and stepped forward.

"Apologies ahead of time, Dusty."

I was about to ask why but when I saw his face I stopped. It had changed, it was now much more predatory. His eyes glowed silver and his lips were pulled back impossibly far. Then my eyes found his fangs. Where his canines used to be there were now long, deadly incisors. They looked just like Rossco's except much bigger and much deadlier.

"Holy Hell weasel!" I yelled.

"Do you believe us now?" Roy asked.

"Yup. It's kind of hard not to with a display like that," I answered and watched in fascination as Haden retracted his fangs.

"Good," Tamara nodded with satisfaction, "Haden here is a vampire, I am a witch, and Roy is a shapeshifter."

"Witch as in casting spells and ridding a broom stick?"

I had a hard time imagining Tamara on a broomstick.

"You got the first part right. However I don't where humans got the notion that we ride on broomsticks, no witch to my knowledge has ever done that. Anyhoo do you want to see some magic?"

"Hell yeah!" I announced.

Tamara held out her hand and one by one each finger of hers caught fire. The flame flickered just above her finger tips but they never spread.

"Whoa, that's cool."

"This is witch fire," Tamara grinned then closed her palm and the fire sputtered out.

"That just leaves Roy. So what do you shapeshift into?" I inquired.

"You've already seen me in my other form."

For a second I couldn't figure it out and then in looked at his eyes. They were a familiar ice blue, what did they remind me of? Then it hit me, "You're Furball!"

Roy winced and both Haden and Tamara looked at him with amused expressions.

"Yes I am the snow leopard that was on top of your car."

"Why did you do that anyway?" I asked perplexed.

"I needed to find out how much you knew, so I had to stop you from running away."

"By jumping on top of my Jeep? I'm pretty sure there are other ways of going about that," I huffed.

Roy raked his hand through his hair exasperatedly, "It was a spur of the moment thing!"

Haden and Tamara both looked like they were holding in laughter. Roy swiveled his head to face and they both immediately stopped, but as soon as Roy turned around they both started laughing again. I grinned as I watched them. They seemed close. It reminded me of how my friends and I used to be.

I cleared my throat and asked, "So I know that you guys aren't human, but that doesn't explain what you were doing at the archery range? And what was that thing that Roy was fighting?"

The trio then quickly stopped laughing.

Roy stepped forward and said, "That thing is one of the most dangerous rogue werewolves we've seen in the last decade…. and we're tracking it."

_Alrighty! A cliffhanger, or rather a very lame cliffhanger. Anyway I would greatly appreciate if you guys would tell me what you think in the box below. Seriously you can do it in just one sentence if you want. :D_


	3. Scar Tissue

_Yikes! In the last couple of chapters I forgot to mention that I don't own the Night World series. I mean I'm pretty sure you all knew that but copyright infringement and all that yada yada. _

_Also I am sorry for the later update then you guys are used too. I had a competition on Sunday and I took Monday as my recoup day, since I sprained my ankle a week before and it needed some love (by love I mean sticking it in a bucket of ice that hurts like hell ) Without further ado here is the next chapter of Caught in the Heart!_

"That thing, the werewolf, how long have you been tracking it?" I asked seriously.

"Two weeks. Today was the second time we have been able to catch up with him. Why?" Roy wanted to know.

"It's been here, in this city, for longer than two weeks."

"How do you know?" Haden questioned.

"This isn't the first time I've seen it…" I trailed off and looked at the ground. Memories were starting to come back and now was not the time to be reliving them. I took a deep breath and cleared my head.

"If you have spotted him twice here, then that could mean that this is his base of operations! We are so close Roy!" Tamara spouted excitedly.

Roy on the other hand didn't look so happy.

"This isn't good. If the rogue has seen you twice then you are a witness, which means that he will want to eliminate you. We can't watch you and track him at the same time! What are we supposed to do?" Roy said angrily.

I stood up to my full height (which wasn't extremely impressive since I was only 5'6) and announced, "I have a solution. You guys take me with you."

Roy shook his head fervently and told me, "Dusty that's not going to happen. We can't possibly drag you into this."

I held up a hand to stop him.

"Wait. I wasn't finished speaking. I have another reason."

I grabbed the edge of my shirt and slowly pulled it so that my entire midsection was showing. All three of their eyes landed upon my right side. Tamara gasped, Haden looked away, and Roy grimaced. On my right side there were five scars, all diagonally set across my torso, that were still healing.

"Now do you see why I want to go with you people? When I saw that werewolf for the first time, he attacked me. My memory's still fuzzy, but the archery range manager said she scared him off of me and took me to the hospital. The reason I want to help bring that thing down is so it can't hurt anyone else like me."

When I said this I made direct eye contact with Roy, which may not have been such a good idea. With his blue eyes looking into my brown ones I felt slightly unsteady. It seemed he was trying to look past my skin and into my soul. It wasn't a particularly nice feeling. However I wasn't going to back down, not when it was something this important. Even if it did feel vaguely like I was going to fall off a cliff. He furrowed his brow and for a second I wondered if he felt like I did. Then he blinked and whatever it was was over.

"Fine," He said quietly.

"What?" exclaimed both Roy and Tamara incredulously, not believing Roy would agree so easily.

"She can go with us," Roy stated.

"Yes!" I fist pumped.

"But only on these conditions. You stay with one of us at all times. You always obey our orders. You don't do anything stupid and you don't try to be a hero."

I nodded, "I can live with that."

I looked over at Tamara and Haden and it looked like they were involved in a conversation without words. Then I had a scary thought.

_Are vampires telepathic? If so, what if he has been reading my thoughts? CRAAAAAP!_

Haden looked at me, "Relax Dusty."

"So you can read my thoughts?" I screeched.

"Only when you broadcast them this loud. While vampires do have telepathic abilities I won't pry into your thoughts. Those are private and for you alone. Now could you please stop yelling? It's hurting my head."

"Oh uh yeah," I stuttered, trying to process this information.

_How does one quiet their thoughts? I wondered._

_Just like that, Haden answered in my head._

_When did you get in here? I thought you said you would stay out! I thought frantically._

_Easy! I just came because I thought you might need some help, but it looks like you are doing just fine. You have impressive control for a human._

"What does that mean?" I asked out loud.

"Most humans have rather easy to penetrate minds. You on the other hand have a good grip on your thoughts. You are already able to partially block you thoughts. If you want I can teach you how to fully block them," Haden explained.

"Would that make it so people can't read my thought?" I inquired.

"Yeah, for the most part. If you were up against an extremely powerful telepath then it might not but for most cases you'd be fine."

"Then I would really like it if you taught me," I said with a smile.

So far after all I've heard today, that was the best news so far.

I asked, "Is there any other important things I need to know?"

"You make delicious roast beef sandwiches!" Tamara complimented.

I didn't know whether to faceplant or to thank her so in the end I just settled on a snort.

Beep!

I looked down at my phone and saw I had a text from my mom:

Hey honey. Just wanted to say goodnight to you before you went to bed.

I texted back:

Night, Mom. I love you

She replied:

I love you too.

"Who's that?" Roy asked.

"My mom. She was texting me goodnight… Speaking of nights I should probably get some sleep. It's been a long, reality warping day. I don't know about you people, but I am not nocturnal."

"Fair enough," Roy agreed, "Do you have a place for us to sleep?"

"Uh huh. We have a guest bedroom and two futons."

"Dibs on the guest bedroom!" Tamara called.

The two boys rolled their eyes but didn't argue with her.

After I got out blankets for everyone, I snatched up Rossco so he wouldn't wake anyone up and stuck him on my bed. Then I picked "Eyes Open" by Taylor Swift on my iPod and drifted off to sleep.

_A quick thing regarding the song Dusty is listening to. I picked not because I am a Taylor Swift fan (though I do like her music) but because it represents Dusty's situation. I just thought I would throw that out there. Also reviews are much appreciated it lets me know how I am doing! If you put Llama somewhere in your review I will give you a cookie!_


	4. Not the Wake Up Call I wanted

_Hey guys sorry for the long delay. I wrote half of this on a plane to Kentucky and the other half in my hotel. I am competing in my Vaulting National Championships. So as you might imagine the last couple of days have been busy getting ready for this and actually competing. I may not be able to update again until next Monday._

Believe it or not waking up early, on a day you could actually sleep in, is not a pleasant way to start the day. And today I awoke to the toaster shrieking.

_I guess I never told them about the toaster's quirks._

I hauled myself out of bed and then into the kitchen where I presumed the three would be. When I entered to room I saw Haden frantically pressing buttons on the toaster to try to make it stop while Tamara was covering her ears.

"You have to unplug it," I advised.

Haden found the plug and tore it out so viciously I was surprised the power outlet didn't come with it.

"What the hell is wrong with your toaster?" Tamara demanded.

"Sorry I forgot to tell you guys last night that the beeper is broken and that you have to press the pop up button before it finishes or otherwise it won't shut up," I explained apologetically.

"It's okay," Haden said but still eyed the toaster like it was possessed.

"What is making so much damn noise?" a voice questioned from across the room.

I turned around and saw an extremely irritated Roy who was rocking quite a bedhead. I was about to explain to him about the toaster, but then when he saw me his eyes widened in surprise. I looked down to see what he was looking at.

_Oh crap!_

As it turns out I had marched into the kitchen wearing only what I slept in and that happened to be shorts and a sports bra. Now normally I wasn't shy about my body but the way Roy looked at me made me think that it wasn't such a good idea to have my…assets on display.

"I uh I'm going to grab myself some clothes," I sputtered and darted into my room.

I quickly grabbed a V-neck that said 'Girls do it better' and some dark jeans. I checked the mirror to make sure that I wasn't rocking a bedhead like Roy. Yeah… I was. I headed to the bathroom and grabbed a brush for my wavy mocha hair. My brown eyes stared back at me and I wondered what it would look like if I had blue eyes like Roy.

_Why are you even thinking about that? _I asked myself.

Then I shook it off and headed back to the kitchen. Roy turned to look at me and his eyes darted to shirt then back to my face, he had a funny expression on his face.

"What?" I demanded.

"Where is a bowl?" he answered with another question.

"Huh?" I was momentarily confused by his question, "Oh uh in the second drawer to the right."

_Why am I so spacey today? _I wondered.

I grabbed myself a piece of toast and popped it in the toaster. Tamara, Roy, and Haden all looked at me like I was crazy.

"Oh relax would you? Believe it or not I can handle a toaster," I said with a roll of my eyes.

I set the table while simultaneously keeping an eye on the toaster. Just when it was about to finish I hit the pop up button and it came up without so much as a squeak.

"So before we go werewolf hunting is there anything in particular I should know? Do I need to arm myself with squeaky toys?"

Tamara laughed, "Honey if slaying rogue werewolves was that easy we wouldn't have any problems in the first place.

"Actually there is something that you need. How much silver do you have?" Roy told me.

"Silver? Why? Wait the silver and werewolf myth is actually true?" I asked incredulously.

"Yup," Haden answered for Roy.

"In that case I need to go to my room to check."

I ran down the hall and almost stepped on Rossco. After that I made it into my room. I grabbed all my rings, necklaces, and the bracelet my grandma gave to me on my fourteenth birthday. Then I returned to the kitchen.

"This is all I have," I told them after I dumped it on the counter.

"Ooohhh this is pretty! Can I wear it?" Tamara asked, pointing to a silver necklace with an ankh on the chain.

"Yeah go ahead," I told her.

"Put this on," Roy commanded.

"All of it?" I asked dubiously.

He rolled his eyes, "No, idiot, just what you can."

"Fine," I retorted.

I put on a necklace with an antique silver key on it that rested just below my collar bones and another larger necklace that went to the bottom of my ribs. I was already wearing silver earrings so I didn't bother with that and I could only wear a few rings because otherwise it would interfere with shooting my bow.

"Happy now?" I asked irritably.

Roy snorted and didn't say anything else.

"What's the game plan for today?" I addressed Haden and Tamara purposely ignoring Roy.

Tamara answered, "We are going to go to the sight were we ran into the rogue last night. There I will perform a tracking spell. That should give us a general direction to head. Then Roy will take over."

"Why him?" I questioned.

"Because in his leopard form he has a hell of a lot better smell than the rest of us."

"I thought vampire were supposed to have enhanced senses," I asked suspiciously.

Haden laughed, "We do. More so than a regular human but we still can't beat an animal's sense of smell. Though a werewolf could give Roy a run for his money in that department."

Roy narrowed his eyes at Haden.

"That actually makes sense," I said.

"What do you mean by that?" Roy said with an edge to his voice.

"Just that dog and canines in general have a better sense of smell than cat but cats on the other hand have better hearing. Why what did you think I meant?"

"He thought you were comparing him to a werewolf. In the Night World that is considered derogatory," Haden explained.

"Werewolves are what, considered inferior species?"

Haden nodded sadly, "Unfortunately. They have a bad reputation. Not that all are like that, though. I've known some that are quite nice actually."

I sighed in disgust, "Even in the supernatural world there is racism and prejudice. That sucks."

All three nodded. Though they all stayed quiet as if they were lost in thought. I decided not to interrupt them and go grab my archery supplies, so I could be ready to leave as soon as possible.

_Finished finally! I have been working on this off and on, mostly due to my competition schedule and partially to my ADD moments. Please tell me what you guys think! Reading your guys' reviews really makes me happy after an exhausting day of vaulting. If you want to know more about what equestrian vaulting actually is PM me and I can tell you all about it. _


	5. The First Shock

_I'm back on the West Coast! Not that any of you care but I thought I'd tell you guys anyway. Now to important stuff: the next chapter of Caught in the Heart!_

We had made it to the archery range in good time, since not many people came to practice in the morning, there wasn't any traffic. I guess that's a good thing since people might start asking questions if they saw Tamara performing magic. Though Haden assured me that if there were any witnesses then he or Tamara could just wipe their minds.

_It's unsettling how conversational they sound when talking about taking away memories, like it is no big deal, _I thought to myself.

_Though, I guess if their entire species relies on secrecy it's not a bad skill to have._

__"Hey Dusty! Get a move on!" Roy interrupted my thoughts.

I looked up and saw I had fallen behind them. They had already found the site where the rouge was last night.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" I yelled back and jogged over to where Tamara was crouched down.

She took off one of the many necklaces around her neck (not the one I had let her borrow) and held it over the ground. The necklace looked like it was made of some sort of crystal but I had no clue what kind.

_What's she doing? _I experimentally tried contacting Haden telepathically.

He answered back,_ That crystal she is holding gives her clarity and it helps her focus her tracking spell. In a minute she will start chanting. _

_So, can I telepathically talk to you at any time?_ I wondered_._

_Not exactly. It only works if you are in my range and it helps when you project your thoughts to me like that._

_What's your range?_

_About 400 hundred yards. Longer if it is a person I am familiar with. However I'm not a super powerful telepath, there are some who have a range of a mile._

_Whoa… that's both scary and disturbing_.

_Yeah but those kind of telepaths are far and few between. Thankfully the only thing stronger is the soul-_

_The soul what? _I pressed_._

Haden shook his head, _It's nothing._

_Tell me! _I whined.

"Tamara's about to start," Haden said, using his speaking voice.

I wanted to keep pressing him for information but my desire to see a real spell in action overruled that. So I let it be and turned my attention to Tamara.

"Hecate witch queen I ask for your help to find the one we seek. Guide me so I may find him and rectify all that he has destroyed," Tamara chanted.

The necklace she held in her hand shook then a circle appeared underneath Tamara's feet. From the circle a line shoot out to the west and continued beyond what I could see. Tamara stood up and shook out her hair.

"How was that for the first real spell you've seen?" She asked.

"Awesome but I still think the witchfire was cooler," I told her cheekily.

She shrugged and smiled, "True, but this is much more useful at the moment."

"If you two are done chatting we need to get moving," Roy announced.

We turned to follow him but then Roy started shifting. His face became more pointed, ears extended from the top if his head and his limbs started reshaping. In less than a minute a full grown snow leopard was standing in front of me. It was somewhat awe inspiring. Not that I would ever tell him that.

"Alright lead the way FuzzBucket," I said with a devilish smile and pointed in the general direction that the line was headed.

Roy narrowed his eyes at me but then continued along the path that Tamara's spell had lain out. We all followed. Roy first, me second, and Tamara walked along side Haden at the rear. The archery range was actually in the mountains so our walk quickly turned into more of a hike; as in dodging tree branches, itchy knee length grasses, and plenty of rocks to trip over. Apparently only Tamara and I had these problems though. It seemed that Roy and Haden just glided over the ground and every time one of us fell behind the Roy just looked at us with that impatient cat stare. It made me want to punch him in his furry nose.

"So are your guys' missions or whatever always this fun?"

"If be fun you mean spending long hours doing unpleasant tasks and then risking our lives? Then yes," Tamara answered tiredly.

I winced, she was not in a good mood.

"Sorry I'm just not a fan of trekking through the woods. But actually I don't mind the job. It's nice to be able to do something that makes a difference, despite the boring/odd hours of work that circle Daybreak has us do."

"What is circle DaybreAAHHHHH!" I screamed.

At that moment I tripped over a stray tree root and landed on the furry mass in front of me, AKA Roy. I fell onto his stomach and as Roy turned to shove me off of him, his nose touched my neck. Then a shock rippled through my body that was ten times worse than the time I accidentally touched an electric fence. (A/N: I've actually touched an electric fence; it's not as painful as you would think. I still feels weird though.)

"Oowww!" I screeched and Roy hissed right back at me.

"What kind of static shock was that?" I demanded while pushing myself off of him and clutching at my neck.

Roy growled and swished his tail. Clearly he didn't like being shocked any more than I did.

"Roy says he has no clue why you guys were shocked and he wants to know why you even fell on him in the first place," Haden relayed for Roy.

"That stupid tree root over there!" I pointed angrily, "Not all of us have supernatural grace you know!"

Roy huffed exasperatedly. It was actually kinda funny. I've never seen a cat look exasperated before. Despite myself I cracked a small smile. Haden helped me up and I noticed that Tamara was shooting Roy a look. What look I couldn't tell.

_What is going on? _I thought to myself

_In case some people are confused, the reason Dusty wasn't shocked when she fell on Roy is because there wasn't skin to skin contact, which is why she only felt a shock when his nose touched her. _

_If you review I will send you a cookie and if you don't I can always send my possessed toaster after you ;)_


	6. Losing Innocence and Ignorence

_Hey so if any of you follow my other story titled "Getting Ready for a Night Out" you will have noticed that it hasn't been updated in a while. Well that is because for one I am trying to balance these two stories, secondly that story is much harder to get inspiration for, and thirdly Caught in the Heart has always been my main story so it takes precedence. I hope you guys understand!_

After I fell on Roy he preceded to make sure there was always at least ten feet between us.

_Seriously? How much of a klutz does he think I am? Or is he worried I will shock him again? Why does this even matter at all to you Dusty? It's none of your business! _I scolded myself.

I checked behind me and saw that Tamara and Haden were holding a hushed conversation. I couldn't make out any words so I hung back trying to see if I could hear them as they got closer.

"-you going to do something?" I caught from Tamara.

"Why on earth would I be the one to talk to him?" Haden hissed back.

Then they both noticed I was near them and shut up. Or they continued their conversation telepathically. Either was a possibility.

"Tamara!" Roy yelled, now in human form, "The trail ends hear."

Tamara jogged up and saw that the line had indeed stopped at the edge of one of the mountain roads.

"Goddess! He must have got into a car. My spell was only designed to track him on foot," Tamara explained in a frustrated tone.

"Well at least we've narrowed down the possibilities. So tell us, where are we Dusty? You are the local," Roy commanded.

"Actually I'm not as much of a local as you think. I only moved here about a year ago."

"In other words you have no idea where we are," Roy sighed.

"Never fear," I grinned, "I can easily figure out where we are."

"How do you plan to do that?" Roy inquired arrogantly.

I pulled out my phone.

"I have a Map app. I can just use it to figure out what streets we're on. Bingo! Found it! We're on James Street which is off of Thomas's! Hey I know where that is!" I answered excitedly.

Roy did not appear to share my excitement as he snatched my phone away and looked at the map.

"This is actually good news. Since the main road is far away it is more likely that our rogue may own property around here. If we can find some real maps then we can narrow it down," Roy stated.

Haden and Tamara nodded in agreement.

"Hey what is wrong with my phone's map?" I demanded.

"It's tiny," Roy critiqued.

Tamara butted in before Roy could say anymore, "Roy wants us to get a bigger map so we can plan better. We need to plan ahead and figure out our best option for attack. We can't just go charging in blindly. The last time that happened we got caught in a trap."

"Fine."

I admitted that there was logic in her statement. But seriously, why couldn't Roy explain it like that? Instead he made every word aimed at me an insult.

_Maybe I can just shoot him with one of my arrows. I'm pretty sure I heard that shapeshifters have supernatural healing abilities. One teeny weeny arrow wouldn't kill him right?_

"Dusty? Dusty. Duuuuuuuusty!" Haden's shouting interrupted my musings.

"Wha?"

"What were you thinking about? You were miles away. We have been trying to ask you what's the best way to get from your car from here."

"Oh sorry Haden. To answer your second question it is easiest to go by the road. I can navigate back to the archery range from here. To answer you first, I was thinking about your guys' healing factor. How does that work anyway?"

Tamara answered, "It's actually pretty simple. Basically we heal from everything except an attack from our race's specific weakness."

"Or fire," Roy pointed out, "Fire pretty much kills everyone."

"Yeah, that too," Tamara agreed.

"Well if you don't mind me asking what is each specific race's weakness?" I tentatively asked.

I was afraid of offending them. I mean I was pretty much asking them to tell me what kills them and it's not something that I would imagine you tell someone you just met.

"Don't worry. It's fine. For my race, witches, it's iron; for vampires it's wood; and for shapeshifters, including werewolves, it is sliver."

"So werewolves _**are **_part of the shapeshifting clan or whatever they call themselves."

Tamara nodded, "You got it."

I stared at Roy trying to see if I could find anything reminiscent of the beast that attacked me. …Nope. There was nothing but an extremely good looking boy with a knack for pissing me off.

"Hey wait a minute I just realized that Roy is wearing clothes," I pointed out.

"Well yeah," Roy responded, "I don't walk out of the house naked."

I growled and yelled, "That's not what I meant. I mean that after you shifted back into human you still had your clothes on!"

"Oh that. They are made out of the skin of other shapeshifters." He said it so nonchalantly.

I stopped dead in my tracks, "Please tell me you are kidding me."

Tamara touched my arm, "He isn't kidding you Dusty. It's the only way his clothes stay with him. Shapeshifters have been doing it for hundreds of years."

"That doesn't make it any less disturbing," I said with a shudder.

"It's the Night World kid, get used to it," Roy told me.

I thought about how my life used to be so much simpler and less scary before all this. Learning about the Night world had simultaneously opened my eyes and destroyed my innocence. I doubt I would be able to ever going back to thinking that these people were only supposed to exist in fairytales.

_Buck up girl and stop wallowing in self-pity! You asked to know and this is what you got. Deal with it! You either sink or swim in this kind of world, _I chided myself.

_So this wasn't a super eventful chapter but not to worry things pick up in the next one! Remember kiddies, reviews make an author's day! So review today and make an author that much happier! *cough* like me! *cough*_


	7. Drowning

_Alright people! So this was originally part of the previous chapter but I decided to split them up. Which mean you guys get two chapters in one night! Aren't I nice! Oh and if you were wondering: Yes I was listening to Florence + the Machine while writing this! They are my best writing muses and every song that pops up in this chapter is done by them. I highly recommend you check them out if you haven't already!_

The walk to the car/ride back home was pleasantly uneventful. As soon as we got home I called the only bathroom that had a bathtub. Right now, all I needed was a really long soak and I didn't care if calling dibs made me seem childish. I turned the water on and let it fill the tub as I stripped down. Then I walked over to the counter, turned up the volume on my ipod and put Florence + the Machine on play. I turned off the water once it had filled the tub and slid into the water, glad to let the song take me away. I'm not sure how long I laid there with my eyes closed. Eventually the music and queit ripples of water lulled me to sleep.

Water rushed into my lungs and filled in through my nose.

_I can't breathe! _I mentally shouted.

My eyes flew open and all I saw was bubbles and a shimmery surface. I felt a smooth surface under me and I pushed off of it. Gasping, I broke the surface. Water flew ever where and I had to try hard to get my breathing back under control.

_What is that in the background?_

I turned my head to locate the noise I was hearing and realized it was the lyrics to "Heavy in Your Arms" by Florence and the Machine.

_Who is the killer in the crowd?_

_The one who creeps in corridors_

_And doesn't make a sound._

_Oh god is my iPod becoming prophetic now?_ I wondered as I stepped out of the tub and grabbed a towel to prevent even more water from collecting on the floor. Which was pretty much a lost cause, since it looked like I had splashed out half the tub when I came out from under water.

_I am so many levels of fail right now it isn't even funny. I mean seriously! Who falls asleep in a bath tub? And nearly drowns!_

I sighed in disgust at myself and then got to work at cleaning up my mess. After that was done I trudged down the hall to my room. In my haste to get into the tub earlier, I had forgotten to grab a change of clothes.

"Hey are you alright?" Roy asked as he rounded the corner and saw me.

"Uh yeah," I replied, "why do you ask?"

"Well you were in there for close to an hour."

"Oh."

Had it really been that long?

"Well I sorta fell asleep."

"In the bathtub?" Roy asked incredulously.

"Yes," I said while turning pink.

_Damn! I never blush._

_Well then again you never fall asleep in the bathtub either,_ came a voice from inside my head.

I ignored it and said, "Look I really need to go to my room so I can grab my clothes."

I tried to go around Roy but he grabbed my hand and stopped me. I yelped and used my other hand to keep my towel from dropping. Then I noticed the shock was back. Except this time it was more continuous and painful since Roy hadn't let go. He was looking at his hand like it had betrayed him.

_What is going on? _I wondered as my vision took on a pink tinge.

I felt really unsteady, like my legs weren't going to support me. I pitched forward and Roy automatically changed his grip on my arm to support me on his chest. Someone's heart was racing. I couldn't tell if it was mine or his. Maybe it was both.

_What has gotten into me? _I asked myself as I realized what kind of situation I was in. I was pressed against his chest wearing nothing more than a towel. It was not the kind of situation I wanted to be in. I drew away from his chest.

"I really should get some clothes," I managed to sputter out.

"Yeah," Roy answered unsteadily.

I didn't take the time to dwell on why his voice was unsteady and fled to my room. I yanked the door shut and sank to my knees.

"Well Dusty, you are having one hell of a night," I quietly told myself.

Once I gathered my thoughts I stood up and grabbed myself a pair of yoga pants and an old t-shirt. No sense getting dressed up if I'm not going anywhere. I padded back to the bathroom in my bare feet and brushed out my wet hair so it wouldn't dry in a funny way. Then I snatched my iPod off of the counter and popped in my ear buds. "Shake it out" filled my ears as I returned to my room. I had been in my room for no longer than a minute when I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in."

Roy stepped through the doorway, "Tamara is making grilled cheese sandwiches and she wanted to know if you wanted one."

I smiled, "Tell her I'd love one."

Roy got up to leave but stopped short of the door, "Hey, are you ok?"

"At the moment? I'm not really sure, but I'll make it through. I always do," I answered with a weak smile.

He nodded and then left me in the darkness of my room. Without even realizing it, dusk had fallen. My stomach growled and reminded me I hadn't had anything since breakfast. I sighed and then got up to join the others for a dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches.

After a relatively quiet dinner I fell asleep easily. I had a weird dream though.

_I was standing in a forest near a creek. It was night time but there was a full moon illuminating the forest so I could easily see my surroundings. The wind shifted and then Roy was standing in front of me on the other side of the creek. He smiled and beckoned me forward before he took off running. I took up the challenge and followed him. I easily cleared the creek and raced to catch him. My bare feet made close to no sound. I kept getting close to him but he always stayed a few steps beyond me. I grit my teeth and sped forward, this time I was side by side with him. Laughter bubbled out of me and I couldn't help it. I could go on forever like this, never getting tired, it was euphoric. Without even noticing it, my bare feet turned to fur coated paws and when I looked to my side, Roy was next to me in his snow leopard form. He grinned at me (well as much as a cat can) and then sped up again. I mock growled and pursued after him. Never once giving thought to my transformation._

**You thought they were going to kiss, didn't you! * laughs and points wildly* Not today people! You are just going to wait for that one!**

***resumes normal speaking tone***

**I had a lot of fun with this chapter. I have been on a writing streak lately and I hope it will make up for all my laziness. Yeah…not likely. Please tell me your thoughts on this chapter! Also would you guys be interested in seeing a Sketch of Dusty?**


	8. No Luxuries

**Oh CRAP! I just realized I have been misspelling "Rogue" for the last six chapters! AIEEEEEEEEEEE! I just went back and fixed that! I feel like such an idiot! *facepalm x2***

**Anyway…It's been a little while since I updated so, I wanted to apologize for that. School just started last week so I had to get back on schedule, which means all off a sudden I have much less free time. Don't worry though, I will still keep my updates to once a week!**

I woke up of my own accord and rolled over to see the clock which read 9:45. I padded into the kitchen (fully clothed, I wasn't going to make that mistake twice) to see if the others were awake yet. Roy, Tamara, and Haden were all hunched over a set a maps that were sprawled over the table and counter. I'm not sure when they managed to get maps but it was probably while I slept.

Haden looked up from his seat and smiled at me, "Hey Dusty, did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah, strangely enough that was one of the best nights' sleep I've had in while. So how long have you guys been up?" I asked.

"Since seven," Tamara answered as she sipped some coffee.

"Jeez you guys get up early," I told her.

I went over to stand between Haden and Tamara to get a better look at the maps. There were several circles and X's marked in red all around the edge of town.

"What are these?" I pointed to the X's on the map.

"Sightings," Roy replied, "These are where we know our rogue has been or places where something that matches his description was spotted."

I nodded and looked over the rest of the maps. The farther away from town the less X's there were. Though there were some outliers that were way out, like two towns over.

"What about these guys?" I asked referring to the outliers.

Roy came over to see what I was talking about. I couldn't help but see that he purposefully made sure we weren't touching.

"These were his first kills. These are when he first popped up on our radar. He was careful then, keeping far away from his home territory. Now he's gotten sloppy and is staying around this town."

I nodded and then I saw Tamara's coffee cup.

_Oooh! A Starbucks sounds really good…_

I made up my mind.

"Yo people! I'm going to go grab a Starbucks!" I shouted as I grabbed my keys off the counter.

"Uh no you're not," Roy stated.

I put my hands on my hips and faced him, "Yes I am."

"Not without someone going with you. You don't go anywhere alone, remember?"

"Fine, then send someone to go with me!" I huffed.

I pulled on my shoes and waited for him to see who he would send, but before he could Tamara spoke for him.

"Why don't you go with her Roy? I've already had my coffee and Haden needs to feed."

I glared at her from behind Roy's back. Was she trying to make him go with on purpose? The last thing I needed was to be stuck with him, alone.

"Fine. I'll go with you."

Roy grabbed a jacket and followed me out to the car. To avoid having to talk to him I plugged in my iPod and put "Let it Rock" on. He seemed mildly surprised by my song choice but I could tell he knew the songs because I saw him mouthing the words put of the corner of my eye. I pulled into the almost empty parking lot and went inside.

"Hey Dusty! How are you?" Tracey, one of the employee's asked. My mom and I are regulars so they all know us by name.

"Good. How about you?" I responded.

"I'm doing good. Is your mom still on her trip?"

"Yeah. She won't be back for at least a week."

"Tell her I say hi ok?"

"I will."

I paid her and Tracey handed me my drink. It had been already made because she recognized my car and started my drink for me.

"Who's that?" She asked and gestured to Roy who had hung back the whole time.

"Oh that's Roy…." I searched for a term to describe him, "He's a friend."

Tracey leaned over the counter and whispered, "He's cute!"

I grunted in response.

"What?" she asked concerned.

"Let's just say sometimes he can be a real ass."

She sighed sympathetically, "Well I'm sure you'll figure things out. If not I just might go after him myself."

I laughed, "I think you're a bit too old for him. You're in college, remember?"

"Yes but I hear guys think cougars are hot!" She winked at me saucily.

I grinned at her antics and walked back to where Roy was waiting.

"So you think I'm an ass?" He asked as we walked to the car.

I slurped my Frappuccino obnoxiously then replied, "It's rude to eavesdrop."

"Superhuman hearing remember? I couldn't help over hearing your conversation," Roy pointed out.

"Well you could at least try not to," I told him.

"You're avoiding the question."

"That's because I don't want to answer it," I said with an eye roll and started my car.

Before I could pick a song Roy snatched my iPod and started looking through it. I suspect this is retaliation for what I said earlier, so I ignored him and focused on the road. Which was a good thing, since at that very moment, a guy walked into the middle of the road. I swerved violently and I heard Roy yelling but I could make out what he was saying. I unbuckled myself and went to open to car door but Roy grabbed my arm.

"Dusty! Wait!"

"Roy I have to go see if he's hurt!"

"Dusty look!" Roy grabbed my chin and forced it toward the window where a the man was turning into a wolf and racing towards my car.

"Oh Shit! What should I do?"

Roy grabbed to hand bar and yelled, "Reverse!"

I did as he said slammed the car into reverse, picked up speed, and then swung it around so the wolf was behind me. Then the engine roared as I accelerated to seventy, heading for home.

"Wait Dusty you can't go home!" Roy told me.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because he can track you there. You don't want to lead him straight to your house," he explained.

"But we're in a car," I told him as I looked in my rearview mirror at the fading view of the wolf.

"It doesn't matter. Shapeshifters can track people's life forces."

"And you're only telling me this now?" I screeched.

Roy put a hand on my shoulder and set off more sparks.

_You need to calm down._

I looked at him and I could have sworn I heard his voice inside my head.

"See if you can get on a freeway or something. I need to call Haden and Tamara."

Roy pulled out his cellphone and started to dial a number.

"Roy I can't get to the freeway without going through downtown. Will he follow us into the downtown area?"

Roy cursed, "I don't know. It's hard to tell with rogues." He stopped talking to me and answered the phone, "Yes Haden it's me. The rogue found us. We're near the west side of town. Yes. Ok. Tell Tamara to bring everything she needs."

"Uh how are they going to get here without a car?"

"Don't worry about that. Right now we need to figure out where to go next."

Roy grabbed a map out of the glove box and started scanning it.

"Roy!"

He looked up, "What?"

"We may not have that luxury."

I pointed to the side of the road where a large shaggy brown wolf was waiting for us.

**Dun Dun DUUUN! A cliff hanger! The last couple of chapters were relatively action free so I thought I'd spice it up a bit. Review and I might be motivated to write the next chapter faster!**


	9. Little Bird

**Hey peoples apologies for not getting this up earlier. My computer was spazzing out during the week so I couldn't do much of anything on it. On a completely random note we just got our carpets cleaned so while I'm typing I'm avoiding putting my feet on the ground!**

When he saw what I was referring to, Roy cussed rather creatively and pounded his arm on the dash.

"Do you have your archery gear with you?" He quickly questioned.

I winced, "No, I thought we were only going for coffee so I didn't think to bring it."

"First rule while on a mission is to never go without your weapon!" Roy yelled.

I turned the car around and shouted, "Well I'm sorry! If we get out of this alive I will take that into account!"

The wolf darted out into the road and tore after us. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that we weren't going to get away this time. Then out of nowhere Haden appeared at the side of my car and tapped on the window for me to roll it down. I obliged but all the while I was thinking, _We are driving 60 mph, how in the hell is he keeping up?_

"Roy, Tamara and I can keep this guy busy, you get Dusty to safety. Oh and Dusty I think you are going to want this."

He tossed me, my bow and archery bag which I caught one handed while I attempted not to crash the car. Haden zipped away and as I turned to watch him go I saw that Tamara was already battling the rogue with her witch fire. I hoped she was going to be alright.

Roy jerked me back to reality and told me, "Dusty turn up ahead and then we need to get out."

I did as he said and fired a question, "Why exactly? Can't we outrun him in the car?"

Roy undid his seatbelt and then undid mine for me. He turned and looked me in the eyes, "If he flips the car then we could be trapped inside and then we would be sitting ducks. Now if we get out at least I can fight him, come on."

I slid out of the car, slung my quiver of arrows over my back, grabbed my bow, and discarded the bag. Roy grabbed my arm (sending sparks down my spine in the process) and guided me into the trees. He stopped in front of a particularly large oak and evaluated it.

"Dusty I need you to climb this tree. Wolves can't climb so it might protect you," he said determinedly.

"Humans can climb trees," I pointed out, "and he can become human."

"Well I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen." Roy promised.

I grabbed a hold of one of the tree's limb but before I ascended I decided to ask him something.

"Hey since there's a potential that one of might die, can I ask you something?"

Roy surveyed the area for threats and then distractedly answered, "What?"

"Why is there a shock every time we touch?"

"It might be the soulmate principle," he replied, not taking his eyes of the trees.

"And that is…" I trailed off.

"It's a theory in Nightworld that there is one person in the whole world that is perfect for you."

I tried to process this information while climbing, "Ok….but how does that relate to the sparks?"

Roy never got a chance to answer.

The wolf crashed through the trees and lunged at Roy. Roy transformed into a snow leopard and kicked the rogue off. The two circled and then Roy charged, claws outstretched and slashed at its nose. The wolf whined and grabbed Roy's ear in its jaw. Roy let out a screech of agony as he scrambled to get his ear free.

_Screw this! _I thought, _Since when do I ever sit on the sidelines?_

I notched an arrow and let it fly towards the wolf. It nailed the wolf's paw and in its confusion the werewolf let go of Roy's ear. Roy darted out of the way and prepared for an attack. However instead of attacking, the Rogue's fur receded and became human enough so he had a mouth and he looked straight at my perch.

"So that's where you hid the little bird," the rogue rasped, "That wasn't a very smart choice leopard."

Roy snarled and leapt on the werewolf's back. The rogue grabbed hold of Roy and tossed him into a tree. I heard a sickening crunch and watched as Roy slid to the ground, unconscious. The rogue looked me in the eye and smiled.

"You're next my little bird," the rogue grinned menacingly.

"I'm not your little anything!" I spat and grabbed another arrow.

It missed and the rogue continued to advance. It charged the tree and I tumbled right out of my perch. I grunted in pain and then tried to reach for my bow.

"Why do you even bother to resist? You know you weren't meant to win this fight." The wolf calmly told me.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I needed to buy time to get to my bow. If I could just reach it….

"Well you are just like all my other offerings." The wolf explained.

"Offerings?"

"Yes, the prey that society gives as offerings to me. Like all the other girls, you presented yourself to me. You are a sacrifice, the way the vermin show their respect for me," He stepped closer me with each word.

"How the hell did you come to that conclusion?" I demanded.

The wolf advanced so that he wasn't even a foot away.

"Isn't it obvious? You're young, fairly pretty, and all alone in an isolated place. You were practically offering yourself up on a silver platter. How could you not be a gift for me? And now that you are here again, I can finish what I started. It all comes full circle."

"So what stopped you before?" I asked.

"That stupid witch but that isn't important. Now you are MINE!"

He transformed back into a full wolf and planted his paws on my shoulders. He lunged at my neck and I kneed him in the chest, instead of getting my neck he bit my shoulder.

As he stood over me memories came rushing back, this was exactly how it happened before. My vision blurred and I couldn't tell what my own memory was and what was real. White fangs poised over my neck, saliva dripping from his tongue, and smell that came from his closeness. It was all overwhelming.

The rogue made another attempt at my neck and I knew I wasn't going to be able to avoid this one.

**Ah the cliffhanger makes a return! And I'm probably the only one who is happy about it. :P On another random note: Who else is excited about the Avengers coming out on DVD later this month! I can't be the only one who wants to see it again! Please review and if you saw the movie tell me your favorite character. If you do I'll tell you mine!**


	10. The Silver Chord

**Whoot! 10 chapters! This is the most consistent I have been with any of my writings! I was really excited to right this chapter but since you guys probably want to dive in, I won't say anymore!**

Hot salvia landed on my neck and I waited for to feel his teeth rip through my flesh. However before that happened the Rogue was lifted off of me and thrown into a tree by a no longer unconscious Roy.

"Get off of her you rat bastard!" he snarled and then shifted into his leopard from to attack the wolf again.

Realizing that I was no longer pinned, I scrambled for mybow. I snatched it out of the grass and thanked my lucky stars that it hadn't broken. Grabbing an arrow, I looked for a clear shot. (Which easier said than done when you target is a wolf entrenched in combat with a snow leopard and you don't want to hit the said snow leopard.) Roy and the Rogue were wrestling and they were moving so fast it was impossible to tell who was going where. I pulled back the string on my bow and tried to focus in.

_How in the world am I going to get Roy away for a clear shot?_

Then it hit me. I knew just what to do.

"Fuzzbutt!" I yelled.

My distraction worked. Roy turned his head to look at me and in that fraction of a second the wolf threw him off and gave me a clear shot. I took a breath in, zeroed in on my target, and on the exhale I released my arrow. It sliced through the air and imbedded itself straight in the Rogue's eye. His head snapped back from the force of the impact and he fell to the ground.

He was dead.

"Oh god I killed him. I really did that."

I started hyperventilating.

"Actually you didn't," Roy said as he got to his feet.

"I put an arrow into his brain! It doesn't get much deader than that!" I told him breathless from the hyperventilating.

"You didn't kill you just slowed him down. You can't kill a werewolf without silver remember?"

"Oh …right," I said somewhat distractedly. "Wait are you sure about that?"

"Just hand me your quiver," Roy spoke urgently.

I shrugged it off and tossed it to him.

"What do you need that for? There isn't any silver in there."

"Not if I know my team like I think I do," He dug out a silver knife and triumphantly raised it, "Ah ha! Haden put this in here before he gave it to you."

"Damn you guys think of everything," I said softly as I waited for what was next.

Roy walked over to the Rogue and with no hesitation planted the knife into the wolf's spine. I gasped quietly and started teetering on my feet. It seemed all at once the adrenaline seeped out of my body and a simple thing like standing became a challenge.

_He's gone. He's really gone. The rogue is dead and I helped kill him. _

"Dusty you're bleeding," Roy noticed.

"I am?" I looked down and saw blood seep into my shirt from my shoulder, "Oh I guess I am. I think he bit me there. I wonder if I lost too much bl…oo…d."

On those words I pitched forward and Roy was instantly there to catch me. He eased me down to the ground so that I was half sitting half lying down. He crouched in front of me and pulled back my t-shirt to examine the wound. I turned my head to look at him and I heard air whoosh out his mouth in a hiss.

"How is it?" I croaked.

"You're probably not going to die from it," he told me.

"Such inspiring words of comfort," I joked.

"Hey," He smoothed back some hair from my face and looked me in the eyes, "Are you ok?"

I smiled weakly, "Sure I beat up deranged wolfy things on a daily basis."

He furrowed his brow and started rubbing circles on my check, "I'm being serious, here."

"Well it's hard to be serious when your touch is making me so feel light headed," I stated as I tried to form coherent thought.

It wasn't easy though. My spine rippled with the sparks that didn't seem so painful anymore and my vision had a red haze (but that might have been from the blood loss). Without realizing it, Roy had moved closer to me and was now nose to nose with me. We were staring at each other and I never wanted to stop. I know it sounds weird but I felt engulfed by his icy blue eyes, they felt safe. Never taking his eyes off mine, Roy leaned in closer so that our lips were brushing and then everything hit at once.

Our lips touched and I felt an explosive reaction go off in my head. It was ten times as potent as the sparks we experienced and I could tell that Roy was going through the exact thing. I was literally being pulled into his mind by some sort of chord. It was an impossible thing to describe. Like hearing a song on the radio from when you were a kid and being able to sing all the words. I knew instinctively that this was the real thing.

_Whoa! _I thought.

_Yeah… _Roy agreed in my mind.

He was in my mind! He sounded different when he spoke mentally. He sounded less guarded.

_That's because my head is usually a safe place to be,_ he told me

_You can hear me? Even though I'm not thinking directly to you?_

_That would be the soulmate bond at work._

_OHHH… so this is what you meant earlier. You know you never got to finish explaining what the soulmate principle actually is._

Roy mentally huffed, _Well excuse me for being attacked by a homicidal werewolf._

I grinned to myself. I'm not really sure how that's possible telepathically, but I knew Roy could tell I was grinning.

_So are ya going to explain or not? _I prodded.

_I'm getting to it. Your running commentary isn't helping. Anyway as I said before the soulmate principle is when there is one person perfect for you and not matter what you do you are drawn to them. It doesn't matter who or what they are and if think they are totally wrong for you, you still can't help being with them._

_It sounds like a rather forceful way to be romantic_, I commented.

He laughed, _It is but it doesn't happen very often. People didn't even believe it existed except lately it seems to be cropping back up again._

As he explained, I felt the words like Circle Daybreak and Night World go through his head. Thierry and other names also swirled through his mind. I probed deeper and I saw faces, a girl with a pink birth mark on her check, a guy with ever changing eyes, and a dark haired girl with a wooden sword in her hand.

_Bokken, _Roy supplied me with the name of the weapon.

He started showing me other things, things that I wasn't even sure that he meant me to see but they flew at me anyway. They grabbed a hold of me and pulled me deeper into Roy's mind. One in particular stuck out. It was his sister. She looked just like him, dark skin, blue eyes, and curly hair except hers went past her shoulders. She was smiling at him.

_She's the reason you joined Circle Daybreak isn't it?_ I asked.

Roy sighed, _Yeah. She fell in love with a human and joining Circle Daybreak was the only way that I could protect her._

_Was it the soulmate principle? _I asked sharply.

_No. _

We were jerked out of that memory and pulled to what I sensed was the center of his mind. It was set up like a mountain cliff side. There were caves and ledges dotted all over the place with a few patches of greenery to break up the grey rock. I looked over to my side and saw Roy watching me as I surveyed his mind.

_Different then you expected? _he wondered.

_Yes, _I answered, _but not totally unexpected. You are a cat after all._

He smiled at that and I could feel the warmth behind it. He came into my mind and pushed into my memories.

_Roy, no wait! _I yelled.

It was no use. My memories were being shown to him against my will. I could feel a silver cord between us, pulling us closer. He saw my parent's divorce, he saw that four years after my mom and I moved here and how I felt so alone, and then he saw the attack.

That memory I managed to close off, but Roy was insistent. He kept poking and prodding until he found a way in, one that took me in as well. I was ripped back to the first night where I was attacked.

_It was a late night; I was the last one there at the archery range. I had dropped my car keys, in the parking lot. I heard the click of footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw a monster looking back. It smiled evilly then pounced on me, causing me to scream. He tore my shirt to pieces and his claws dug into my side. Pain blossomed in my stomach. I kicked out but I couldn't make him stop. He just wouldn't STOP! _

_I'm going to die here alone in a parking lot, I thought. _

_Blood was soaking through my shirt and it started sticking to my skin. The monster stood above me and my vision started to blur. The last thing I heard was someone yelling my name. _

The shock of the memory jerked me straight out of our minds. I found myself on the ground with Roy holding me and tears staining my cheeks.

"Why you'd make me relive that!" I screamed at Roy.

He took my face in his hands and said, "Dusty I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have pushed to see it! I'm sorry."

I looked away and used the heel of my hand to wipe the traitor tears off my face.

"Dusty look at me," Roy commanded.

I shook my head and continued to wipe the wetness from my cheeks. Roy growled and yanked my face so that it faced him. I was confused for a second and he took that opportunity to kiss me. This time it was a real kiss, not just a light touch. His lips were rough against mine and I found myself kissing him back. I couldn't bring myself to care that we were arguing only seconds ago. In fact, all my previous thought left my head. Kissing him was _freaking amazing_.

His tongue snuck out and I found myself falling back into our soulmate bond. I saw how horrified he was with himself and I also felt the underling hint of rage that was directed towards the rogue.

_You sneaky bastard! _ I narrowed my eyes at him and realizing what he had done.

Roy mentally shrugged, _I had to get you back into my mind somehow._

I attempted to glare pointedly at him and told him, _You know this soulmate thing make it really hard to stay mad at you._

_I know, _he replied.

I rolled my eyes and he knew he was forgiven.

After that we just stayed there in each other's minds. I don't know how much time passed. It was nice to just relax and feel totally protected. It was something I hadn't felt in a long time.

A little after that, Roy spoke up, using his real voice, "Hey Dusty, what's your real name? You were going to tell us in the car before you nearly hit Charlie."

I smiled, "Dustelle. My real name is Dustelle."

"Sounds fancy."

I poked him in the shoulder.

"Which is why I go by Dusty!"

**I bet you were all screaming "Finally!" when you read this. I know I was. You guys have no idea how long this scene was in my head before writing it! I had this scene all planned out before I even started writing the story. This is the longest chapter I've written so far, even though this is only 6 pages which really isn't that long, but it's almost double what I usually write since I usually try to go for at least a thousand word per chapter. **

**Oh and though it may look things are wrapping up there is still more to come. Remember Dusty is still bleeding out. (Apparently she is prone to forgetting somewhat life threatening injuries?)**

**P.S. Review please! I have some doubts about this chapter and I would really like to know your opinion on it. I'm thinking it might need some tweaking.**

**P.P.S I have a poll on my main page so please go and check it out! *insert shameless self-advertising here***


	11. Waking up in Vegas?

**Hello again. I would like to say thanks so all you awesome people out there who are following and/or reviewing my stories! You people are the reason I try to be on it with my updates! To make up for my lateness I made this chapter longer than usual!**

"Dusty? Roy?" Haden called out.

"Over here!" Roy shouted.

Haden darted over to them through the trees and paused for a second to observe the Rogue's body.

"Dead?" He asked.

Roy nodded in conformation. He then moved slightly so he was facing Haden but still supporting me.

"We need to get Dusty help, preferably of the NightWorld kind. She was bit during the attack."

Haden grimaced and hissed out a sigh. I tried to pay attention to him but my eye lids felt weighted down.

"What?" Roy asked Haden.

"Tamara's down too. I had to give her some of my blood during the battle."

"Is she ok?"

Haden nodded, "Yeah she's stable. I'll go make the call to Lord Thierry."

"Good."

"Roy," I said faintly, "…I think I'm going to pass out."

Roy said something to me but I couldn't understand it. My vision went blurry and I slowly spiraled into darkness.

I blinked slowly and was greeted with a bright white light that filtered in through my eyelids. I saw faces leaning over me. One of them was Haden's.

The first thing I said was, "Since when have your ears been pierced?"

Haden looked at me funny and fiddled with one of his studs, "Uh for a while now. I just didn't have earrings in until now."

"Oh…ok."

I pushed myself off a mountain of pillows and scanned the room. It appeared I was in a hospital of some sort, except there weren't any ugly fluorescent lights or weird modern art paintings.

"Where am I?"

"Circle Daybreak," Tamara answered.

"And where is that?"

"Las Vegas."

"WHAAT?" I yelled and lurched out of bed. "I'm in Las Vegas? Circle Daybreak is in Las Vegas? My mom is going to kill me!"

"Easy!" Haden pushed me down so I was back on the bed, "You don't want to rip your stitches!"

I put my hand to my neck and felt that I did indeed have stitches. I gently probed my skin and felt that it was a little tender but not painful.

"How bad are they?" I asked Tamara.

"Not too bad actually. You got here in time to prevent any major damage and since we have Night World doctors, they made sure there won't be any scarring."

"That's a relief," I smiled. "So why the hell is Circle Daybreak located in Las Vegas?"

"Because well, Grandma Harman, the leader of all witches, used to live here…before she died."

Tamara looked down and I could've sworn I saw tears in her eyes. She cleared her throat before I could ask her about it, and then continued.

"Anyway, Thierry Descouedres lives here and he is the founder of Circle Daybreak. He's the first made vampire by the way and kind of a bigwig in the Night World. We're actually in his house."

"Oh um that sorta makes sense," I told her.

"We probably should explain what Circle Daybreak actually is shouldn't we?" Tamara noted.

"Yeah…that would be helpful."

Haden sat on the side of my bed and began explaining.

"You already know about the Night World and you may have guessed that not all Night Worlders are thrilled about humans."

I nodded. That didn't come as a surprise to me.

Haden continued, "Well actually most all Night Worlders hate humans. Humans are seen as 'vermin' and food sources. Witches are the friendliest out of all the races but they still have reservations."

Tamara nodded in confirmation.

"Circle Daybreak is the exception to the all that. We believe that Night People and humans can live and work together. We don't think humans are second class citizens. Also this is a safe haven for all species where they don't have to worry about prosecution. Lately the soulmate principle has been coming back and making humans fall in love with Night People so Circle Daybreak has been on the rise."

"Oh yeah, Roy said something about that," I remarked.

"Wait, you and Roy talked about the Soulmate principle?"

Tamara leapt onto the end of my bed and looked at me eagerly.

_I guess Roy didn't tell them yet…_

"Uh yeah we did," I said awkwardly.

"Finally!" Haden cheered.

He and Tamara high-fived.

"Wait, why are two you high fiving?" I asked suspiciously.

"Cause we were waiting to see how long it would take to for you two to figure out that you were soulmates! Though since you're human and didn't know about the soulmate principle, we were mainly wondering how long it would take Roy to get his head out of his ass," Haden explained causing me to laugh.

Tamara poked Haden, "That reminds me. Dusty told us first, so you lost the bet Haden. Now fork it over."

Tamara made 'gimme' motions with her hand while Haden just sighed and dug out his wallet. I felt a slight tug at the back of my head and turned my head towards the door.

_Was this a part of the whole soulmate thing?_

Apparently it was. Since Roy stood in the doorway, his hair still wet from the shower.

"Why didn't you guys tell me she was up?" Roy asked annoyed.

"Because you reeeaally needed a shower," Haden commented.

Roy shot him a withering look and moved over to my bed. I moved my feet out of the way so he could sit down.

"Relax, we were just filling her in on the basics of Circle Daybreak," Tamara soothed.

She then muttered under her breath, "We just started pumping her for information when you _had_ to burst in."

Roy eyed her and but ultimately decided to ignore her and turned his attention to me.

"How are you feeling?"

I could feel the concerned undertone in his voice. I'm not sure if that was because of the silver chord or if I had gotten better at reading him… Probably a bit of both.

"I'm as good as someone who just got the crap kicked out of them by a werewolf can be," I answered.

He smiled at me and noticed that both Haden and Tamara were watching us intently.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He asked them.

"Not really. We're still getting over the fact that you two have been in the same room and aren't fighting. I guess the soulmate bond really does work miracles," Haden supplied.

Roy groaned, "You told them?"

I huffed, "Me? No! They figured it out all be themselves! Besides I kinda thought you would've told them. I was out for at least eight hours, right?"

"It was actually more like twelve hours," Roy corrected. "However, I thought we should figure things out before we start randomly announcing it!"

Tamara and Roy both snorted simultaneously. Roy and I both swung our head in their direction.

"What?" We asked in sync.

"You two!" Haden replied, "You're back to fighting and it didn't even take ten seconds!"

"Well it's probably good for him," Tamara drawled, then swept her red curls out from her face, "Roy needs someone to keep him on his toes. Anyway let's leave the two lovebirds alone."

Tamara looped her arm through Haden's and the walked out of the infirmary, all the while, grinning smugly. I took one of my pillows and chucked it at them on their way out.

"Those two are very…"

"Annoying?" Roy supplied.

"I was going to say cheeky but that works too," I said with a shrug.

I looked at him and noticed that he seemed pretty tired.

"Did you get any sleep at all last night?" I wondered.

He grimaced, "Not really. I was worried about you so I stayed here while I treated you and then I had to report back to Thierry and tell him all that happened. Oh speaking of which I found out something unusual."

"Oooh do tell!" I said as I wiggled closer to him.

"The manager at the Archery Range is actually a witch. That's how she was able to scare the Rogue away."

"So that's what he was talking about right before he attacked me! Wait does that mean Michelle is part of Circle Daybreak?"

"No, she was just a witch sympathetic towards humans. However I extended the offer for her to join and she seemed interested."

"That's good," I replied after stifling a yawn.

Roy touched my hand and asked in my head,

_Are you feeling sleepy?_

_Yes _I thought in annoyance, _Which is stupid since I just slept for 12 hours straight._

_I know how that feels. Recovering's a bitch but it helps in the long run_

I nodded then thought about it, _Wait a minute, don't you have super human healing?_

_Yeah, but there are some people who are quite happy to use silver against me. Injuries from silver heal like a human's would._

I yawned again and tried to cover it with my hand.

"Hang on a sec Dusty, let me get Thea. I'll see if she needs to get you anything before you conk out."

"Alright," I agreed sleepily.

Unfortunately for me I feel asleep before he even got back.

**Well that was a very dialogue heavy chapter. Sorry about that. It was really fun writing for Haden and Tamara in this chapter! They are so cheeky! **

**Again sorry about the late update. To make up for it I'm going to have another one up by the end of this week! Reviews make my day and if you use the word "toaster" in you review, I'll give you a brownie!**


	12. Recovery

**Oh jeez it's been a while….So how many of you want to shoot me for taking so long? **

***Pauses and looks around at angry followers***

**Yeah, I thought so.**

**Anyway if you want to know the explanation for my absence, it was a combination of laziness and being really busy. **

**So to the two reviewer who reviewed as guests, I am going to reply here because I can't PM you back.**

**Guest 1: Thank you! Don't worry you are safe from my toaster and you get a brownie! Apologies for the wait on this chapter! Reviews like yours make me super happy!**

**Guest 2: First of all, please try to clean up your spelling. I'm not asking for perfection or trying to be a grammar nazi but it gives a better impression if you spell correctly. Secondly, I was joking, I wasn't actually going to hunt you down to give you a brownie. I meant like a 'internet brownie' basically me saying "here have a brownie!" I hope you understand =) I appreciate your review.**

**But's you'd really rather be reading the story, right?**

**Here it is then.**

"How can she possibly sleep this long?"

"Give her time Roy. She's had a rough week," a female voice answered.

The voices sounded muffled to me and somewhat distant. Something told me that there was something important I was forgetting.

_Maybe I'll just go back to sleep. It can't be that important, right?_

The voices were talking again.

"So now you know what it's like to have a soulmate huh?" the female voice asked.

"Not you too!" The other male voice growled.

"Relax. I'm not going to tease you about it. I think it's wonderful, actually. But now things are going to be different for you with a soulmate.

_Soulmate…Why does that word seem important?_

I tried to gather my floating thoughts and think back. What had happened before I fell asleep?

_ROY'S MY SOULMATE! _I remembered.

My eyes flew open and I shot into an upright position.

"Why are there so many damn pillows?" I yelled to no one in particular as I flailed in the bed.

A blonde girl whirled around to face me and shouted happily, "Hey you're awake!"

"And yelling random phrases," Roy added.

"Yeah," I responded and I slid out of bed and noticed a chill up my legs. I had forgotten that I was wearing a cotton night gown.

I narrowed my eyes and growled, "Where are my bow, clothes, and car?"

"Well the clothes you were wearing were bloody so Tamara burned them, but she took some clothes from your room and they are right there," Roy gestured to the folded up garments on the bedside table. "You bow is in your car which is one of the garages."

"As in there are multiples?" I asked incredulously.

"Thierry's rich remember? And there are a lot of people here, which means a lot of cars."

"Okay then. Where can I change?"

"There's a bathroom right over there you can use," the girl supplied.

I nodded at her and went in to change. Tamara had picked out one of my favorites, a tee with the batman logo on it, and a pair of red skinny jeans.

I came out and Roy was sitting on the bed, spaced out while the blond girl was waiting for me.

"I realized I didn't tell you my name, I'm Thea," she smiled.

"Hi, I'm Dusty."

"I already know. Haden and Tamara filled me in on the details."

"So do I get a clean bill of health?" I asked her.

Thea nodded, "You're mostly healed but lay off any strenuous physical activity and watch your stitches."

"Cool," I grinned happily. "What now?"

"Well we will probably need to meet with Lord Thierry," Roy suggested.

"You can't. Remember? He's in a meeting with Inner Circle that's going to last for at least another two hours," Thea pointed out.

"Good point," Roy commented, "I guess I'll give you a tour of the place."

"A tour?" I asked

"I'm pretty sure it's not a new concept Dusty."

"I know that!" I yelled and smacked him in the shoulder. "It just seems so normal after everything that's happened. I mean I halfway expect for you to tell me that you guys secretly are training ninjas!"

Roy rolled his eyes playfully, "To my knowledge there are no ninjas…well maybe except Rashel. She sometimes seems to acts like one."

"Rashel….why does that seem familiar?"

"You saw her in my head; she's the one with the _bokken._"

"Speaking of Rashel; she, Quinn, and a lot of the others are in the rec room if you want to introduce Dusty," Thea interrupted.

"Speaking of Soulmates, where's Eric?" Roy asked.

"He's at the clinic," Thea replied. "They're having free vaccinations, so they need all the help they can get."

Roy nodded and nudged me, "Come on, Dusty."

I followed him down the hall into, what looked like the foyer. Yes, a legitimate foyer, this was a mansion after all.

"This is the main hall. On the left where we came from is the medical wing, to the right are the kitchens, rec rooms, meeting rooms. Up that stair case is where all the bedrooms are."

"Oh kitchens! I'm starving!" I yelled excitable and dragged him with me, down the right hall.

He grunted and led me to the kitchen. I momentarily put down my bow on the counter and went into the pantry. Man, it was huge! What, were they trying to feed an army?

I rummaged around and emerged out triumphant with a granola bar and a soda.

"Do you want something?" I asked him.

"No, I'm fine. Haden and Tamara forced me to eat after you feel asleep for the second time."

I just nodded since my mouth was full. I swallowed and asked, "So how many people live here?"

"It varies. This mansion acts as a base of operations but Circle Daybreak has posts all over America and throughout the world. We have a full time medical staff and I think 3 chefs. Of course then there is Thierry's staff; security, assistants, and the like. And then there are Daybreakers like my team. Those like us, live here but aren't here all the time since they get sent out on missions often. There are a lot of Daybreaker teams like that. And then there are some like Thea and her soulmate Eric, they pretty much live here full time."

"Wow. It sounds like a hectic place to live." I commented as I finished eating.

Roy shrugged, "You get used to it. I've been here for three years and it doesn't bother me."

"How old is your sister?" I asked.

"Seventeen, a year younger than me and same age as you. Why?"

"Well you said she was the reason that you came to Circle Daybreak. And if she's seventeen now, that would make her fourteen when she fell in love… She was young."

Roy fell quiet for a while and then said, "That's the thing about my sister. She doesn't always think before she gets into something. Grace's ruled by her emotions and I love her, but she doesn't think of the consequences of her actions."

I moved over to lean on the counter next to him and asked, "Do you regret it? Having to come to Circle Daybreak because of your sister?"

He exhaled softly, "At first yeah, it was different from everything I'd ever known. I was with new people, in a new area, and I couldn't go back to old life or my family. But as I got used to living here, I started to realize that I was making a difference. I was actually doing something useful with my life and I guess I slowly realized what being a Daybreaker was about. Plus, my sister's happy and that means a lot to me."

I smiled.

"Not to mention, if I wasn't a Daybreaker, we would have meet with under very different circumstances if we had met at all."

"You mean you don't normally greet people by jumping on top of their Jeep?" I asked in mock shock.

He elbowed me in the ribs.

"Ouch! Injured person here!" I yelped in between laughs.

"You're impossible," he said with a snort.

"I know. Now are we going to meet the others that Thea talked about?"

"Might as well."

We both pushed off the counter and Roy lead me to a room down the hall. We walked in and several set of eyes landed on us. Most of them seemed to be sitting on the various couches around the room.

"Who's this?" a dark haired and dark eyed boy asked. Sitting next to him was the girl I recognized as Rashel. Rashel had the same hair as him but her eyes were unnervingly green.

"Guys, this is Dusty," Roy introduced.

"I'm Quinn and this is my Soulmate Rashel," the dark haired guy explained, Rashel nodded slightly in my direction.

I took that as her version of a hello.

"Hey-" I was about to respond but I was interrupted by a small curly haired redheaded girl.

"Hi!" She yelled and hugged me.

"Ouch," I hissed as she squeezed my shoulder. The girl leapt back and looked at me with concerned eyes.

"Stitches," I explained as I rubbed my shoulder.

"Yikes! I'm so sorry!" she apologized.

"Easy there Poppy," a light brown haired boy commented as he walked over to the red head who I presumed was Poppy.

"I wasn't trying to hurt her!" Poppy exclaimed, "Anyway I'm Poppy and this is James, my soulmate. I am really sorry about your shoulder."

"It's ok. You couldn't have known."

I could feel little waves of worry coming off of Roy so I moved the hem of my shirt so I could view my shoulder, no blood. Good.

_I'm fine, _I told him.

He looked at me and nodded almost imperceptibly.

I focused back on the group and saw that a few of them were flicking their eyes from me to Roy and back.

"So are you guys Soulmates or what?" An ash blonde boy questioned from the couch.

"Ash!" The girl sitting next to him admonished and smacked him upside head. "That's rude!"

"Oww, M'lin why are you so vicious?" He yelped.

"She's only vicious around you," James remarked with a grin.

"Anyway, sorry about that," The girl on the couch, M'lin, said. "I'm Mary-Lynette and that is my idiot Soulmate Ash."

"Hi Mary-Lynette and hi Ash," I greeted.

Ash rubbed his head and I noticed that his eyes changed color.

_Weird, I wonder what species he is. And does the term species even apply to the Supernatural?_

I shoved that thought in the back of my head and looked at Roy.

_Are you ok with telling them? _I asked.

_Doesn't look like we are going to be able to avoid it._ Roy replied with a mental sigh.

"Uh yeah, Dusty and I are soulmates," Roy told them.

Ash grinned evilly and Quinn snickered quietly. Rashel smacked him and he abruptly stopped.

"Ha!" Ash yelled triumphantly.

Mary-Lynette sent an I-am-so-sorry-my-boyfriend-is-an-idiot look to me and I nodded understandingly.

"So are all of you soulmates?" I asked.

"Yeah everyone in this room is," Ash answered.

"Ok. What are all you guys, like species-wise? For lack of a better word," I asked.

"Well Jamie and I are vampires. Jamie is Lamia and I'm made."

"Lamia…that sounds familiar," I commented.

"Vampires that can have families and age if they want," Roy explained.

"Which is Haden?"

"He's made."

I made a mental note to ask him how old he is.

"And Ash is also lamia. Rashel and I are human," Mary-Lynette explained.

"And Quinn here is a made vampire," Rashel spoke for the first time and when she did, I couldn't help straightening my spine a little. She had an air around her that demanded respect.

"And an old geezer!" Ash added.

Quinn sent him a death glare but Ash appeared unfazed. He leaned forward and looked me in the eye.

"So if don't mind me asking, how'd you get those stitches on your shoulder, Dusty?"

**Yay! Glad to get this out of my system. Again, I am so sorry for the 3 month hiatus. I imagine you guys have probably have forgotten I (or this story) exists. But to make up for it, I made this chapter longer than usual. **

**Please review! It can be to yell at me for being a lazy ass or you can tell me how I'm doing or you could prattle on about the advantages of non-stick dishware. I'm really down with anything.**

**Oh and remember, reviews greatly speed my motivation to write the next chapter. Also if I haven't updated for a while feel free to PM me or shoot me a review and tell me you want me to get off my butt and write another chapter. Guilt tripping works fabulously ;)**

**P.S. If any of you notice how I switch in between capitalizing and not capitalizing 'Soulmates' that's because I can't decide whether or not I should capitalize it. Any thoughts?**


	13. The Apocalypse andDucks

**Hey! A [semi] regular update, would you look at that! MJ got her butt in gear and decided to write. (Why am I referring to myself in third person?) **

**I would like to thank **_**rabbitlavel **_**who told me to get off my lazy ass and write. See? I told you that yelling at me works!**

**So here you are my lovelies-**

_Last Chapter _

_Ash leaned forward and looked me in the eye._

"_So if don't mind me asking, how'd you get those stitches on your shoulder, Dusty?"_

Mary-Lynette poked Ash side savagely and hissed, "Ash!"

"S'ok ," I said. "To answer your question, a homicidal werewolf tried to kill me."

I stared straight back at Ash's eyes which had changed from a jewel green to a stormy grey. His blond eyebrows rose slightly and I heard Poppy and Mary-Lynette intake a sharp breath.

"That's harsh," Ash commented.

I nodded, "But he's dead now, so I don't have to worry about him trying to kill me again."

"Trying to kill you? As in he tried more than once?" Rashel asked.

"Yup. Both times I was lucky. That and I have a knack for running into Night People apparently." I turned to Roy, "I still can't believe that the Archery Range manager was a witch. How could I not notice that?"

"People from the Nightworld aren't supposed to stick out Dusty. Otherwise it wouldn't be a secret," Roy explained.

"I don't know… you were pretty easy to spot," I pointed out slyly.

"I was trying to save your life!" Roy said exhastperately.

"Uh huh," I murmured patronizingly.

Roy shot me a glare and I smiled smugly back.

"Is this what other people feel like when M'lin and I argue?" Ash wondered.

"Yes," James and Quinn answered immediately.

Mary-Lynette raised her eyebrows at the two but didn't say anything.

"Is there any particular reason why there is a bow on the kitchen counter? I thought bows are no longer used in modern day times?"

I turned and saw a proud looking boy with unnaturally yellow eyes holding up my bow.

"They aren't used in warfare Delos, but people still do it for fun. Though, it isn't all that common," answered a curly auburn haired girl that appeared at his side. Delos, the dark haired guy I guessed, was the one holding my bow.

"OH! That's mine!" I yelled and ran over.

I snatched my bow out of his hands and ran my fingers over it checking for damages.

"Dusty, it's fine. It was in the kitchen for all of five minutes," Roy said.

"Shush, Furball," I admonished. "This is my baby."

Roy rolled his eyes and Ash suppressed a snort at my name calling. I'm pretty sure the only reason he was bothering to suppress it was because Mare-Lynette's elbows were in close proximately to his ribs.

"Hi, I'm Maggie," the curly haired girl introduced herself with an outstretched hand.

Up close I could see she had warm brown eyes the radiated a sort of genuineness. I switched my bow to my left hand and shook her hand.

She withdrew and then gestured to yellow eyed guy and said, "This is Delos, my boyfriend/soulmate. He's still wrapping his head around modern conventional things. There's a rather long story behind that, so I'll save that for another time."

"Good to know," I responded.

I was learning very quickly that nothing around here was normal and to just go with it. After all nothing in the last week was anywhere close to normal and if I had to guess, things were only going to get weirder.

"Don't forget he's also a Wild Power," Quinn pointed out.

"That too," Maggie amended as Delos walked over to stand behind her and she leaned into him. He rested his chin on her forehead and stared at me. It was more than a little unnerving. Before I could ask what a wild power was. Two people burst in through the door and slammed into the floor about two feet in front of me.

"Give it back, Morgead!" the red head yelled, she was on top of a guy that I guessed was Morgead.

"Make me, Jezebal!" He taunted.

"I told you not to call me that!" she hissed and punched at him.

Morgead rolled out of the way and held something just out of reach. It looked like….a stake?

"What's the big deal, Jez? I was just going to borrow it," Morgead asked he ducked another swipe from Jezebel, or Jez as I gathered, she preferred to be called.

"My problem, it that you never just 'borrow' things! They mysteriously go missing! And that's my favorite stake," Her green eyes glowed with fury.

_Are they really fighting over a stake? _I asked Roy telepathically.

_Yes, they are. Jez and Morgead can fight over just about anything. Coincidentally they also happen to be soulmates._

_Figures, _I snorted softly.

"Dusty, this is Jez and Morgead. Jez is one of the other Wild Powers," James explained.

While Morgead and Jez weren't looking, Rashel snatched the stake out of Morgead's hands and plopped back on the couch next to Quinn.

"Hey!" both Jez and Morgead yelled at the same time.

"Hey, yourself," Rashel retorted curtly. "You were too busy fighting to even notice that we have a newcomer in the room. So why don't you get off the floor and act like civilized adults. In the meantime the stake stays with me."

I could feel the weight of Rashel's stare and it wasn't even directed at me. She was one badass woman. Jez and Morgead reluctantly backed down from her gaze and nimbly rose from the floor and finally noticed that I was in the room. Jez threw her hair back and looked me up and down while Morgead dusted off his leather jacket and spared me a glance.

"At least they didn't break a table this time," I heard Maggie mutter.

"So," I broke the silence, "Is anyone going to tell me what a Wild Power is?"

"Oh you know," Ash said conversationally. "One of the four people who are going to save the world from the Apocalypse with their blue fire."

"WHAT?" I screeched.

I turned to Roy, "What's this about the apocalypse?"

"You didn't tell her?" Ash asked Roy.

"No Ash, I didn't. That's not something you can just tell someone. I was planning on easing into it!" Roy growled.

I put my hands on my hips and glared at Roy, "Well I think it's time you started talking. I dealt with the fact that the supernatural exists, I've dealt with the fact that half the time you have spots, I can deal with Tamara shooting fire, and I can deal with the fact Haden needs blood to survive. So I can deal with this too."

Roy sighed and ran his fingers through his thick black hair. "The Apocalypse was slated to come at the turn of the century. It didn't. So we don't know when it will come exactly, but we do know that if we get all four Wild Powers on our side, the side that doesn't want humanity to die and the Night World to take over, then we can prevent it. We have three Wild Powers, Delos, Jez you've met, and other is Illaina. She's in Europe trying to persuade the witches there to join us. But we don't know who the final Wild Power is."

Under normal circumstances I think my brain would have had trouble processing this. But this was hardly normal and as I had already told Roy, in the past week my world had been flipped upside down. I was finding that I had to be very open minded. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried to tell me that unicorns exist.

"Okay," I said slowly. "So how exactly are the Wild Powers," I gestured to Jez and Delos, "going to save the world?"

"With blue fire," Poppy interjected, "One of the most powerful forces known in the world. It's right up there with the Soulmate principle."

"We would demonstrate but blue fire isn't exactly house friendly," Jez explained breezily.

"Okay… apocalypse, evil Night Worlders, blue fire, Wild Powers. Awesome," I breathed out the last word and leaned against the back of the couch for support.

"You're taking this pretty well for a human," Quinn remarked.

"I've had one of those kinds of weeks," I explained.

I sighed and then slouched against Roy's conveniently placed shoulder.

_I little heads up would have been nice, _I scolded him.

_Well I was planning to tell you later. When things calmed down, _Roy explained apologetically.

_Are things ever calm here?_ I wanted to know.

_Well….that depends on your definition of calm. _

"Hey stranger."

I looked up and saw Tamara and Haden in the doorway. I smiled and them. I was wondering when they would show up.

"Hey Tamara! Hey Haden," I greeted,

"I thought I heard chaos, turns out it was just you," Haden joked.

I stuck my tongue out at him. Tamara raced over and enveloped me a spine crushing squeeze.

"So you're back from the dead!" She announced.

All the made vampires in the room looked pointedly at her.

"Yeah…awkward unintentional vampire joke. Sorry guys," Tamara apologized flippantly. "So how are ya?"

"Oh you know, I just found out about the Apocalypse but other than that, I'm fine."

Tamara looked icily at Roy, "You told her already?"

"No, it was **this **guy," Roy pointed at Ash.

The blonde vampire just shrugged, "Guilty."

"You could at least look a little sorry," Haden sighed.

Ash raised an eyebrow, "I don't do apologizing well. As I am sure you can all attest to."

Mary-Lynette coughed not-so-covertly.

"That is something I'm working on," Ash amended and kissed her temple.

Mary-Lynette rolled her eyes but I could see she was secretly pleased.

Then the sound of ducks quacking burst into the silent room. All those with super hearing jumped up and looked around for the source of the noise.

"Sorry! That's me," I dug into my pockets and pulled out my phone.

"It's my brother," I stated surprisedly.

"Benjy?" I asked.

"Yeah it's me," My little brother answered.

"What's up?"

"Uhhh… what's the name of the brand of dog food that Princess eats?"

I facepalmed, "Seriously Ben? It's been over four years since the split and you still don't know her dog food?"

"I know, I know! But I accidentally threw the bag away and now I can't remember," he cried.

"You're such a dork. It's Nutro, with a blue bag and a German Shepard on the front. Since we are speaking of dogs, take Princess out on a walk please."

"Duuusty, seriously?" he whined.

"Do it or I'll change your X-box live account!"

"You don't even know the password!"

"Wanna bet?" I smiled evily. "Or better yet, why don't I change your username to SparklyBubblePrincess?"

"You wouldn't" Ben tried to sound confident.

"Yes I would and you know I can," I told him smugly.

"Fine! You win. You're pure evil you know that?" Ben said irritably.

"Yup. Bye, Benjy."

"Bye, weasel face."

The call ended and I shoved my phone into my pocket. Then I noticed everyone in the room was staring at me. Right, super hearing…

"I didn't know you had a brother," Haden remarked.

"Yeah, he's two years younger than me. He lives with my dad."

Haden nodded knowingly.

"Why exactly is your brother's ringtone a duck?"

"Oh that….it's a long story. Let's just say you really shouldn't go to a petting zoo while you are on a sugar high after consuming an entire box of thin mints."

"Wait, an entire box of thin mints?" Poppy clarified.

"Well my brother helped," I pointed out.

Roy groaned, "You really are insane."

"You're just now figuring this out?" I asked him sweetly.

**Oh hohoho. This chapter kind of got away from me. Not much action and I am sorry but you guys will have to wait a while for that. I needed to get Dusty caught up with the whole Wild Power/Apocalypse deal.**

**As you guys might have figured out, this story is coming to end. I estimate about 2 more chapters but it could be more. **

**Oh and how did you guys like Dusty's brother. His name's Benjamin in case you didn't get that. He's 15 and Dusty is 17. I'm not sure if I have explicitly told you guys how old she is.**


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